“What do you want?” Witch asked.

Daemon swallowed the lump in his throat. “A wedding ring,” he said, his voice roughened by longing—and a fear that he might still lose the one person who meant everything to him. “I want the wedding ring you promised I’d wear after I got back from Hayll.”

She went so still he wasn’t sure she was still breathing. Then her eyes changed again.

“I’m not the same as I was when that promise was made,” Jaenelle said.

He couldn’t stop himself from looking at the Jewel she now wore. Twilight’s Dawn was a Jewel unlike any other, which made it extraordinary. But it wasn’t the Ebony Jewel she used to wear. It wasn’t the Black that had been her Birthright. As unique and mysterious as Twilight’s Dawn was, it still represented a loss of the power she once wielded. And that did make her different, but . . .

He sat up to face her. Brushed his fingertips over her face. “No, you’re not the same—except in the ways that truly matter.”

“Do you really believe that, Daemon?”

Can you accept the difference? That was the question under the question.

“Yes, I really believe that.” And I can accept the difference.

A sheen of tears brightened her eyes as she smiled. “Then let’s do it. Let’s get married. Today.”

Now! Excitement, fierce in its intensity, flooded through him before common sense intervened. He rested his forehead against hers and forced himself to consider the ramifications of following desire.

“We can’t.” He pulled back enough to see the uncertainty, and a hint of hurt, on her face. “Sweetheart, there’s nothing I’d like better than to marry you today, but we can’t.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “For one thing, the coven and the boyos would never forgive me if they weren’t invited to your wedding.” Her wedding. Things were still too shaky between him and the rest of the humans who had made up her First Circle that they would give a damn whether or not they came to his wedding. “If we’re going to avoid hurt feelings, we have to have a formal wedding. That means sending out invitations, talking to Mrs. Beale about preparing a wedding feast for the guests. It will take a few weeks.” And the Darkness only knew what other rumors might be spread about him in that time.

Jaenelle echoed his sigh. “You’re right. But . . .”

The look on her face made him giddy ... and a bit terrified.

“We could have a private wedding today, just for us, and then have a formal wedding in a few weeks,” she said.